liquorice

Organisation and samples

Yesterday I dried and looked more carefully at my rose hip samples.

And I decided they were OK really.  Initially I was really disappointed but then I have a beautiful khaki green colour and sort of pink.  I tried cotton without any soy as a pre-mordant and it didn't work ( I knew that but I was being scientific).  I won't do that again.  I used garden labels to write on so that they wouldn't dissolve.  I did forget the wool but tried some sliver - without labels!!!!!

Today I am going to do some samples with some brown onion skins I have collected while cooking. 
 

And I have some red onion skins collected by a friend (RHS) to save for later.  I am saving my foraging "stuff" in old pillow slips so they stay dry and I can hang them in the wardrobe on skirt hangers.

We are going to a birthday party tomorrow for a 5 year old and I am planning a foraging bag for him.  Melissa makes the most wonderful foraging bags for children.  Thank you Melissa.

 
More rust on the spring.  This is silk (paj) and it is soaking in seawater as I type.

 
  And I have been foraging for kowhai seeds in my garden. NOTE the BLUE SKY!!!!!

 

More dying and Fiberarts

I over-dyed my stripey pink piece of blanket the other day.

 
The finished piece and a detail.  It looks a bit like the hide of one of those african wild dogs.

I used corokia(?) growing outside and wrapped stalks of it in the piece of blanket and added chopped branches to the pot and then boiled it for a few hours.

When I have used this before it has given a soft sort of pink, a bit like the underside of supermarket mushrooms.  So the stripes have almost disappeared and the rusty nails have spread out as black/grey.

My Nov/Dec issue of Fiberarts arrived today.  Wonderful for cup of tea time this morning.  There is a review of Clare Plug's exhibition based on her time in Antarctica.  It is an installation called Look South on in Hawkes Bay.  It is travelling or touring in 2010 so look out for it, it looks really interesting.
 
  

Getting There!!!

Now I have a new format etc.  I hope I can make it work.

 

This is my new veggie garden.  i think I have posted it before but it is here again as a new beginning.  I am trying to grow some veggies to save money this year.  One of my resolutions for the year and my friends will "laugh out loud", to make my own clothes.  I was inspired by Keiler Senssenbrenners Simple Wardrobe in Fiberarts Jan/Feb 2009.  Wish me happy sewing and I don't NEED to buy any fabric.  That might be hard.

A Treasure

The other day, after a big storm, I found this huge piece of bull kelp with little collections of goose barnacles on it's branches.  It filled the boot of my car. 

Now it is in my front yard and I am thinking it will be good for dying and printing.  Some of the branches are about 20 cms wide.

And then I think it will be good for my plants in my garden.